Solving the puzzle of laboratory preparedness: the National Response Plan.(Cover story)

CONTINUING EDUCATION

To earn CEUs, see test on page 22.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this article, the reader will:

1. Learn what the U.S. government has done to handle some of the risks that lab professionals must face in natural or man-made disasters.

2. Learn how the HSPD #5 and #8 have direct relevance to the laboratory.

3. Become aware that a National Preparedness Goal exists and that there are National Preparedness Guidelines.

4. Learn about the four critical elements and goals of the National Preparedness Guidelines.

5. Become familiar with the purpose of the National Response Plan.

6. Learn how laboratories are categorized and what agencies will be providing resources for the laboratories.

7. Understand when and how the military supports the National Response Plan.

8. Lean what the laboratories' responsibilities are in preparing for a disaster.

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"Throughout the evolution of our homeland security paradigm, one feature 
most essential to our success has endured: the notion that homeland 
security is a shared responsibility built upon a foundation of 
partnerships. Federal, state, local, and tribal, governments, the 
private and non-profit sectors, communities, and individual citizens all 
share common goals and responsibilities--as well as accountability--for 
protecting and defending the Homeland." 
--President George W. Bush 
National Strategy for Homeland Security 
October 2007 

No matter how or where news is disseminated--television, newspapers, websites--we are sure to find at any moment a multitude of disasters occurring around the world, from weather-related natural events such as snowstorms, floods, hurricanes, typhoons, or tsunamis to man-made events such as wildfires, oil spills, nuclear meltdowns, and wars and conflicts that severely affect the lives of people everywhere. As laboratory leaders, we must be concerned as to how these varied events might affect the daily operation of our labs. We need to understand how these types of events will impact our organizations, and we must develop plans to mitigate the risk involved in providing support prior to, during, and after any disaster.

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What would you do if you found yourself in the middle of a crisis? How would you personally react? How would you ensure that your laboratory continued to function? Is your organization prepared?

If you had been living and working in New Orleans, could you have predicted what was to unfold when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005? That storm did not even hit New Orleans with its full impact, and yet we witnessed a cataclysm unlike any in our collective memory. For many years, experts had predicted a large hurricane was destined to hit New Orleans. Could we have been better prepared?

Despite a previous bombing at the World Trade Center parking garage in 1993 that killed six, who would have imagined that the Twin Towers would be attacked on September 11, 2001, by terrorists using hijacked American commercial airliners? Could we have been better prepared?

Having lived in the metropolitan Washington, DC, area during the 2005 anthrax attacks, I found the simple task of retrieving mail caused untold stress. Who could imagine that someone would send deadly biological agents in the mail? Could we have been better prepared?

The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 caused 20 to 40 million deaths worldwide and is considered to be the most devastating epidemic in recorded human history. Scientists and world health officials now warn us to expect another pandemic to occur with the H5N1 avian influenza virus. Can we be better prepared?

The intent of this article is to give laboratory professionals an understanding of what the U.S. government has done on a broad national scale to mitigate some of the risks we face from both natural and man-made disasters. Whether we want to admit it or not, these events impact each laboratory wherever the facility is located and every individual who works in it. Let us examine how each laboratory fits into the national plan for emergency preparedness via the National Preparedness Guidelines, where we can find some tools to help in the development of disaster plans.

National Preparedness Guidelines

In the aftermath of 9/11, the president issued a series of 20 Homeland Security Presidential Directives (HSPD). Two of these directives--HSPD #8, National Preparedness, and HSPD #5, Management of Domestic Incidents--have direct relevance to any laboratory. In HSPD #8, the president directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a national disaster all-hazards preparedness goal.

As a result, the secretary released the National Preparedness Goal. Publication of the National Preparedness Guidelines finalized the development of the national goal and its related preparedness tools. The goal guides federal departments and agencies, state and local governments, the private sector, non-governmental agencies, and the public, in determining how to most effectively and efficiently strengthen national preparedness for terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies.

The goal utilizes a capabilities-based planning approach for planning, under uncertainty, to provide capabilities suitable for a wide range of threats and hazards covering 15 national planning scenarios utilizing a universal task list to develop the target capabilities list.

There are four critical elements of the Guidelines:

1. National Preparedness Vision: provides the overarching vision;

2. National Planning Scenarios: 15 scenarios that highlight the scope, magnitude, and complexity of plausible catastrophic terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies;

3. Universal Tasks List: a menu of…